Sam Taylor-Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson and E.L James at the UK Premiere of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ in London, Leicester Square.

Sam Taylor-Johnson, Director of the biggest film this year – ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ has made an official statement, announcing she will not be returning to direct the planned sequels for the franchise. Read her official statement to Deadline magazine below:

“Directing Fifty Shades Of Grey has been an intense and incredible journey for which I am hugely grateful. I have Universal to thank for that. I forged close and lasting relationships with the cast, producers and crew and most especially, with Dakota and Jamie. While I will not be returning to direct the sequels, I wish nothing but success to whosoever takes on the exciting challenges of films two and three.”

Although she has not confirmed as to why she has chosen to make this decision, we think it may have something to do with the rumours that speculated about herself and Author of the series, E.L James clashing on set, which she later admitted to in an interview with Porter magazine saying:

“It was difficult; I’m not going to lie. We definitely fought, but they were creative fights and we would resolve them. We would have proper on-set ‘barneys’, and I’m not confrontational, but it was about finding a way between the two of us, satisfying her vision of what she’d written as well as my need to visualise this person on screen. But, you know, we got there.”

What will happen with the future of the series is still yet to be confirmed. After all, there were also rumours in late Feb, Jamie Dornan (who plays Christian Grey) was also pulling out of the series after his wife was unhappy with the intense scenes he had with co-star Dakota Johnson!

The film has made over $550million worldwide since its Valentine’s Day release and has also been ranked #1 out of the highest grossing films of 2015 so far!

What do you think about Sam Taylor-Johnson leaving the Fifty Shades franchise? Tweet us your thoughts @UKFilmRedCarpet!

You can also PRE-ORDER ‘Fifty Shades of Grey: Unseen Edition’ on DVD & Blu-Ray here, (Release date for home theatre and Digital HD – June 22).